• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.365-374
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• 2020

In this paper, we analyzed how 5-year-old children perceive a robot's ability to attribute mental states to oneself and to others, which shall hereafter be referred to as a robot's theory of mind (RToM). A total of 34 5-year-old children were given two typical false-belief tasks, an 'unexpected-contents task' and a 'change-of-location task', in order to evaluate whether a child's perceived RToM was connected to their own ToM. In addition, we investigated whether a child's perception of RToM was influenced by either a priori experience with robots or that child's gender. The results are as follows. Firstly, the 5- year-old preschool children universally recognized robots as beings that have a human-like mind both in 1st order and 2nd order perspectives, which indicates that children perceive robots as beings distinct from mechanical toys. Secondly, a priori child-robot interaction experience was found to have a positive influence on a child's perceived RToM. Thirdly, the gender of children did not significantly affect their perceived RToM. This study serves to add to the macroscopic results of prior research, which indicate that children perceive robots as intermediate beings between living and inanimate objects: significantly, it analyzes the children's perception of robots through the lens of theory of mind, which is one of the key elements of cognitive development. This research lays the foundations for designing effective child-robot interactions, in situations in which robots serve as peers or assistants for educational purposes.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.199-211
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• 2014

The purpose of the present study investigated the types of humor styles of preschool children, as well as the relationship between parents' humor styles, their children's emotionality, and peer competence. For this purpose, the data on parents' humor styles and their children's emotionality and peer competence were collected from 203 children 3-5 years of age who were enrolled in 3 educational institutions for young children in the Seoul area, and from their parents. Basic statistical calculations including averages, standard deviations, and variances of the collected data were calculated for the analysis of the humor style of the fathers and mothers, and Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between the parents' humor styles and children's emotionality and peer competence. The results are as follows: it turned out that both fathers and mothers use social humor most frequently, and fathers use more humor in general than mothers. In addition, the analysis of the relationship between parents' humor styles and children's emotionality and peer competence showed that children's emotionality has to do with their mothers' humor styles, whereas children's peer competence has more to do with their fathers' humor styles. Finally this study found that parents' humor style has an impact on the development of children and provides a new perspective on positive parenting attitudes.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.985-994
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• 2009

This research is exploratory in considering the unique socio-cultural context of South Korea, where the present government is responding to the demand for English language training. The study asked the question: What do mothers experience when sending their young children to a private English institute, so called English kindergarten, instead of a regular preschool? A qualitative approach was used to analyze the in-depth interviews with 19 mothers who sent their young child to an English kindergarten. Mothers stated that their young child needs to be a competent English speaker. The mothers expected that an English kindergarten would prepare their child better for the elementary school English curriculum than a regular preschool. The study revealed that English kindergartens symbolized the precedence and the privileges of the elite because of their high tuition fees, native-speaker teachers, and small class sizes. The mothers showed a sense of pride and vicarious satisfaction from sending their child to an English kindergarten. However, the mothers recognized that English kindergartens put more emphasis on cognitive learning instead of the social development of children. It was almost impossible for mothers to communicate with the native-speaker teachers about their child. The mothers seemed to overlook their child's struggle to adapt to an English Kindergarten. The findings of the study raise issues concerning the boom of teaching young children English in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.777-788
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to assess physical activities and activity coefficient of preschool children and was to give some concrete information to activate outdoor play and to probe the suggestions to activate outdoor play. 42 preschool children (17 boys and 25 girls) were included. Body weight and height were measured and one-day activity diaries were collected by interviewing with their parents and kindergarten teachers. To measure physical activity during outdoor play, this study was researched the current conditions and content of outdoor play activity in daycare centers, and teacher's perceptions of that outdoor play. The average age of the subjects was 5.0 years. Average height, weight, body fat and body muscle of subjects were 108.9 cm, 18.9 kg, 17.7% and 26.8%, respectively. The subjects spent about 10 hours 39 minutes sleeping; 4 hours 16 minutes personal hygiene and computer working. They spent 88.2% of 24 hours (one day) in "very light activities" and 11.3% in "light activities". Activity coefficient (1.34) of weekday was significantly higher than that of weekend (1.21). And in this study, it was found that most of daycare centers (87.7%) have outdoor play space, 95.2% of them were garden. The teachers recognized that have a outdoor play frequency everyday (48%), three or four times (46%) in a week but they have three or four times (38%), one or two times (30%) because of various indoor program. Also, they recognized that have a outdoor play expending time 21-30 minutes (48%), 31-40 minutes (26%) but they have 21-30 minutes (64%). They answered that have frequency and expending time less than their recognition of outdoor play. Most of daycare center teachers perceived outdoor play to be as important as indoor play, and the teachers believed outdoor play supports children's physical, cognitive, social, and language development. The results of this study may be used to utilize as a basic data for estimate physical activity for preschool children and developed that exercise program to increase physical activity of daycare center outdoor play.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.33-51
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• 2013

This study identifies the differences of creative leadership according to preschool children's peer popularity. The subjects of this study were 178 5-year-old children in institutes of early childhood education in G city and all collected data were analyzed by t-test. The results of the study are as follows: 1) Children's Peer Popularity and creative leadership in the overall score, and sub-elements such as creative thinking, self-management, respect for others and community care ability of young children have a positive relationship. 2) there were statistically significant differences in the whole creative leadership and sub-elements(creative thinking, self-management, and social leadership, respect for others and community care ability) depending on peer popularity. It suggest that the results of this study have a great value to provide fundamental data for the development of peer relation building program to enhance creative leadership.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.195-208
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• 2009

The main body of research literature on peer relations has focused on its effects on children's psychosocial and emotional development from preschool period to adolescence. Topics of the research generally consist of peer acceptance/rejection, friendships, and peer victimization. In the review of domestic and international research conducted since late 1990, research trends and issues are described in this paper. Findings suggest some measures in interventions, prevention, and policies in promoting positive peer relations. Some social skill trainings are needed for children to react appropriately in peer relations and get along with their peers. In addition, there is a need for differentiation of the intervention programs by participants' roles in bullying situations and gender of children. Moreover, a longitudinal research is required to enhance the understanding of developmental changes in peer relations.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2006

The early childhood is a pivotal period for the development of creativity since creative imaginary is rich at the age from 4 to 4.5 years old, The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between children's creativity, playfulness and multiple intelligence. 91 children(41 boy, 50 girls) attending preschool in jeon-ju city were participated in this research, The age of children was 6 years(average 73.7 months), After collecting the data to find the connections between children's creativity, playfulness and multiple intelligence from the subjects' data using the SPSS WIN 10.0 program, along with t-test, ANOVA and Pearson's correlation in this paper. 1. There was significant correlation between children's playfulness and creativity. Intelligence spontaneousness the element of the playfulness has a correlation with Creativity strengths, Elaboration. In addition, Resistance to Premature Closure has a correlation with social spontaneity, And Originality has a correlation with the Expression of Pleasure the element of the playfulness, 2. There was a significant positive correlation between children's multiple intelligence(MI) and creativity, Fluency the element of creativity has a correlation with Interpersonal intelligence the element of multiple intelligence: And Originality has a correlation with Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, Intrapersonal intelligence the element of MI. In addition, Abstraction of Titles has a correlation with Intrapersonal intelligence. 3. There was a little correlation between children's MI and playfulness. The Expression of Pleasure has a correlation with bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, Based on the current study, the relationships between creativity, playfulness, and multiple intelligence could be identified. Especially, creativity was significantly correlated with playfulness and multiple intelligence of early childhood. Therefore, it was found that creativity of toddler might be essential factor for the development of toddler's cognitivity.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.517-528
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• 2010

The number of young children who attend daycare center, preschool or kindergarten and are taken care of by teachers during a day has skyrocketed in Korea. The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents of the research on infant/child-teacher attachment in Korea. Thirty five studies (5 doctoral dissertations, 24 masters' theses, and 6 academic journal articles) published from 1993 to 2010 were analyzed in the matter of the publication period, the related variables, and methodology for analyzing the data. The findings are as follows: 1) More than two-thirds of the research were from masters' theses. The number of studies conducted in the late 2000s doubled compared to that in the 1990s. 2) Each study on infant/child-teacher attachment had at least one related variable regarding social, emotional, cognitive or physical development, but not language. The studies on infant/child-teacher attachment related to social development have rapidly increased in the late 2000s. 3) The majority of studies were conducted using quantitative analyses and Attachment Q-set version 3.0. Difference analysis and relational analysis were most frequently used in many studies. There was only one study which was analysed with the advanced statistical methodology. The implication for a future study was also discussed.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2020

This study examined if the effect of family functioning on preschoolers' school readiness can be mediated by mothers' affective parenting and preschoolers' self-regulation in the year before children enter elementary school. This study analyzed the 7^th year data of panel study of Korean children collected by the Korean Institute of Child Care and Education. Statistical analysis included 1,513 pairs of 6-year-old children and mothers. Descriptive statistics analysis, correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping analysis were conducted using SPSS 22 and Amos 20. The primary findings were as follows. First, the sub-factors of preschoolers' school readiness composed of children's social and emotional development, approach to learning, cognitive development and general knowledge, and communication were positively correlated with family functioning, mothers' affective parenting, and preschoolers' self-regulation. Second, the result of structural equation modeling showed that the indirect paths from family functioning to preschoolers' school readiness through mothers' affective parenting and preschoolers' self-regulation were significant, while the direct path was insignificant. Third, bootstrapping analysis showed that mothers' affective parenting and preschoolers' self-regulation fully mediated the relationship between family functioning and preschoolers' self-regulation. The findings provide the grounds for families and parents with preschool aged children to implement effective support practices to maintain a functional family system that can promote preschoolers' school readiness.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.129-151
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to develop and verify the effectiveness of consultant development program enhancing 'authentic parental competence' of the mothers with preschool and school-age children. The objects of this study were 14 mothers with preschool and school-age children. In order to examine the changes of the mother's parental competence, t-test and qualitative analysis on in-depth interviews were conducted. The results of this study were as follows. First, this program had a positive effect on all the sub-factors of mother's 'authentic parental competence'. Second, mothers mentioned that they changed their parenting competence(change of parenting knowledge, beginning of reflective attitude on their parental role), self-system competence(understanding and respective attitude for the mother herself, self-awareness as a spouse, sweet glances and warm understanding as a parent), social competence(sympathetic understanding of her acquaintances, attempt a role as consultant) after this program. Based on these results, the implications and limitations were also discussed.